Each day, two boat tour operators head out to the waters off Oahu's North Shore to give the dozens of tourists aboard a close-up look at sharks. They toss bits of bloody fish into the water to attract the predators.

It is a brisk business and, according to opponents, also illegal.

The operators say they are helping conduct research, an exception that is allowed in federal waters. Whatever the legality, the two sides are locked in a standoff that has sparked a protest and new legislation aimed at penalizing the companies.

“;We need to strengthen the existing law to dissuade the current practices and find methods to stop illegal behavior,”; state Rep. Lyla Berg said.

The owner of one of the two tour companies said the tours have always followed the law.

“;This new bill is another desperate effort,”; said Stefanie Brendl, owner of Hawaii Shark Encounters. “;The whole impetus for this is just motivated by a very small group.”;

The other tour company, North Shore Shark Adventures, did not return phone messages seeking comment.

Hawaii banned feeding sharks in 2002 after lawmakers and state officials learned North Shore Shark Adventures was baiting the sharp-toothed creatures off the North Shore to give tourists a show. A similar federal ban followed.

State lawmakers and officials say the tours continue because of blurred jurisdiction boundaries, a shortage of enforcement officers and puny penalties for those who flout the rules.

The tours say federal law on shark feeding—which applies only to Hawaii and U.S. territories in the Pacific—allows people to feed sharks as “;part of a research program funded in whole or in part by appropriated funds.”;

Carl Meyer, a researcher at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, a part of the University of Hawaii, confirmed both tour operators are participating in studies he is doing on the behavior of sharks attracted by the tours. Meyer published a paper last year in the journal Environmental Conservation that showed the feeding has not altered the migratory patterns of the sharks.

The companies charge about $100 per person for a ride to waters off the North Shore where tourists jump into floating metal cages tethered to the tour boats.

From inside the cages, they watch sharks circling in hopes of snagging a scrap of bloody fish tossed in from above.

The tours and their opponents are now facing off at the state Legislature, which is considering a bill that would dramatically raise the fine—from $500 to more than $5,000—for those who feed sharks. Tour boats could also be seized.

Supporters of the tours welcome the steady stream of tourists and business they bring to a less populated part of Oahu best known for big-wave surfing and shrimp farms.

Opposition comes primarily from environmentalists, native Hawaiians and surfers, canoe paddlers, swimmers and others who spend a lot of time in the water.

The watermen and women worry feeding sharks will make the ocean more dangerous for humans. Environmentalists are concerned giving sharks food will upset the ecosystem. Hawaiians who view sharks as aumakua, or ancestral gods, say the practice is deeply disrespectful of their traditions.

Safe Waters for Hawaii gathered 1,200 signatures for a petition requesting a shark tour ban. The group organized a 40-person demonstration in Haleiwa, the town from where the tour boats depart, in February.

State investigators have staked out the businesses and looked into allegations but have not been able to build any cases, said Laura Thielen, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Part of the problem is determining the 3-mile mark separating state and federal waters. There are no lines in the ocean marking the border.

Chronic staff shortages compound the problem.

The state has just 105 officers to enforce all of Hawaii's natural-resource rules governing everything from hiking trails to coral reefs.